Columbus, Ohio-based Worthington Industries Inc. announced Tuesday that it reached an agreement in principle to participate in a joint venture near Shanghai, China to produce cold rolled strip steel primarily for the automotive industry. Worthington will join Nisshin Steel Co., Ltd. (Nisshin) and Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. (MISI) in the venture which will be called Zhejiang Nisshin Worthington Precision Specialty Steel Co., Ltd. Worthington will own a 10 percent stake in the joint venture with the option to increase ownership and Japanese partners Nisshin and MISI will own 55 and 35 percent respectively. The formal agreement is expected to be signed by the end of the month.
"This joint venture allows us to leverage our expertise in cold rolled strip steel in China, the largest automotive production market in the world," said Worthington's Steel Processing President Geoff Gilmore. "We are pleased to have another opportunity to partner with MISI and further our relationship with Nisshin, Asia's leading producer of cold rolled strip."
The venture plans to build a facility with an annual capacity of approximately 130,000 tons. The facility will be located in Pinghu City, Zhejiang, China, approximately 45 miles outside of Shanghai. Construction is expected to begin immediately following government approval with production expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015.